Nalini Sriharan, life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and her husband Sriharan alias Murugan, death convict in the case, met in the Special Prison for Women, where Nalini has been lodged, after a gap of 15 months on Saturday.
Their meeting was described by prison sources as emotional, coming as it did for the first time after the mercy petitions of Murugan and two other death convicts in the case, Santhan and Perarivalan, were rejected by the President, and after the hanging of the three was stayed by the Madras High Court.
The Vellore Central Prison Superintendent had fixed their execution for September 9, but will now have to await the outcome of their petitions challenging the rejection of their mercy pleas.
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In the morning, Murugan was taken in a police van amidst tight security to the Special Prison for Women. The couple met for half an hour, from 7.45 a.m. to 8.15 a.m., in the interview room in the prison in the presence of a jail official.
Last meeting
Their last meeting too was in the Special Prison for Women here in June 2010.
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Nalini was shifted to the Puzhal Prison near Chennai the same month following a petition from her to the State government that she was being harassed by prison officials in Vellore and that her life was under threat in the prison.
Besides, Nalini was accused of using a mobile phone illegally inside the Special Prison for Women, and a case was registered against her in this connection.
Nalini was transferred back to the Special Prison for Women here on Wednesday in response to her plea that she be shifted to Vellore to facilitate her meeting with her husband Murugan in the wake of the developments following the rejection of his mercy petition by the President.